.W75 
Copy 1 



iiiE GREATER HALF OF 
THE CONTINENT. 



BY 

ERASTUS WIMAN. 



RE-PRINTED FROM THE NORTH AMERICAN REVIEW, 
JANUARY, 1888, 




314 BROADWAY 

1889. 



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THE aREATEE HALF OF THE CONTINENT, 



It is not a little singular that, in this country, and in 
this period of the esisj acquirement of general informa- 
tion, so little is known of the greater half of the continent 
of North America, included within the British posses- 
sions. It shows, for instance, how little is known even 
of the broadest generalities, when the statement is re- 
ceived with surprise, if not incredulity, that, excluding 
Alaska, Canada is a larger country than the United 
States. Yet such is the case; for the United States, 
prior to the purchase of Alaska, was included within 
3,036,000 square miles, while Canada stretches out to fill 
3,470,392 square miles. It would perhaps help to convey 
some conception of the magnitude of Canada when the 
statement is made that, in area, it comprises very nearly 
forty per cent, of the entire British Empire, the extent 
of which is recalled by the boast that the sun never sets 
on British possessions. A still further rather startling 
statement in relation to Canada is, that, including the 
great lakes which encircle it and which penetrate it, and 
the rivers of enormous size and length which permeate it, 
in it is found more than one-half of the fresh water of the 
entire globe. Such broad generalities as these may well 
excite the attention of the people of the United States, 



4 THE GREATER HALF OF THE CONTINENT. 

who, in view of the magnificent proportions of their own 
country, have been unconsciously led to believe that it 
comprises all that is worth having on the continent. 

The impression of magnitude, so far as Canada is con- 
cerned, is, however, always accompanied by a conviction, 
born of ignorance, that the Dominion is a region of frost 
and snow ; that it is a sterile and inhospitable waste — 
simply a section of the North Pole. This conclusion con- 
firms the conviction that Canada is of little or no use to 
the United States, so rich in resource, so varied in climate, , 
and so self-contained and independent of the outside 
world. The vast number who thus look upon the 
northern half of the continent fail to remember that, by 
the, purchase of Alaska, and its subsequent development) 
testimony was afforded as to the exceeding value of 
regions very many degrees farther north than the average 
of Canada, and that to-day, so full of promise is the 
prospect for this latest acquirement of the United States, 
that no money payment, however large, would have the 
faintest hope of acceptance for its cession to another 
power. It is doubtful if, in any part of the United 
States, a greater return has been realized in proportion to 
the capital invested or the effort put forth, than that 
which has rewarded the enterprises in the most northern 
section of the United States. 

So far as the climate of Canada is concerned, it should 
never be forgotten that, within the parallels of latitude 
which include the greater portions of the Dominion, the 
development in the United States has been the most 
marked: Indeed, no development in the history of the 
world is more rapid than the growth of the commerce of 



THE GREATER HALF OF THE CONTINENT. O 

the Great Lakes, which to-day act as a barrier, dividing 
the two countries, but which, under happier conditions, 
should be the bond that united them. Reference to the 
extent of this lake commerce brings out another startling 
comparison, which, creating surprise, shows after all how 
little the average man knows even of his own country, 
much less of the reo^ions alongside of his own land. This 
statement is^ that the tonnage and value of products 
which passed through the Sault Ste. Marie Canal, com- 
pressed within seven months of the season of navigation of 
1888, equalled that which passed through the Suez Canal 
in the entire year. Here, in the northern part of North 
America, between two inland lakes, with only one shore 
of these developed, a commerce has been created which 
equals that between two oceans, whose traffic is almost as 
old as the universe, and contributions to which are made 
from every clime and country of the globe. Eecall, also, 
the fact that the water communication of the lakes is 
competed with by the most perfectly equipped railway 
systems of the age/ while the commerce of Suez is practi- 
cally without a competitor. This development of the 
States and cities bordering upon the great lakes, and the 
growth and productive forces which have been set in 
motion, not only on the shores of these inland seas, but 
on the wide stretches of country tributary to them, is a 
testimony to the advantages of a northern climate that 
it is impossible to ignore. So magnificent is this growth, 
so significant is the lesson that it teaches, that, so far as 
Canada and its climate is concerned, a true appreciation 
of her vast value is, from the advantage of her location, 
at length beginning to dawn upon the minds of observant 



6 THE GREATER HALF OF THE CONTINENT, 

men. The place that she should occupy, as the greater 
and northern half of the continent, can be no longer 
denied to her. A proper estimate will show Canada to 
be a country having few equals in extent, none in riches 
of resource, in accessibility, ease of interior communica- 
tion, and, notwithstanding the smile that lightens up the 
face of the reader, none superior to her in the advantages 
of climate. 

Perhaps the best test of climatic advantage is found in 
the ability to produce, in the largest quantities, and of 
the best quality, the most valuable and the most univer- 
sally used article of commerce. Certainly, in this respect, 
there is nothing surpassing the article of wheat, which 
may be said to be the basis of civilized existence. The 
steady movement toward the north of the wheat-producing 
regions of this continent is remarkable. Wheat is a 
plant so delicate, and so easily affected by frost and ad- 
verse conditions, that it might be supposed to be cultured 
safely only in the most temperate zones. Yet the move- 
ment of the wheat- producing areas towards the North 
Pole has been as steady as the movement of the needle 
in the compass in that direction. Within the memory of 
many readers of this publication, the Gennessee Valley, 
in the State of New York, was the great wheat-producing 
region. So much so was this the case that Rochester was 
named the " Flour City," from the number of its flouring 
mills, and the activity of its commerce in that direction. 
Since then it has changed the manner of spelling the 
word which designates it, and though it is still called the 
" Flower City," it is because of the development of the 
nursery and seed interests, which so adorn and benefit it, 



THE GREATER HALF OF THE CONTINENT. 7 

and the rest of the country. No longer is Rochester the 
centre of the wheat-producing areas. Westward these 
took their way, first to the valleys of the Ohio, then to 
the prairies of Illinois and Iowa, until now, in the most 
northern tier of States and territories, is found the great 
sources of national wealth in the production of this great 
cereal. The milling activities of Minnesota, the marvel- 
ous railroad development in the Northwest, both toward 
the west and north, and more recently toward the eastj 
for the special accommodation of this flour and wheat 
trade, tell the story, that so far as climatic advantage is 
concerned, wheat has found its greatest success in States 
to the extreme north. Is it to be supposed that there is 
something magical in the 49th parallel that bounds 
Minnesota towards the north 'i Its steady trend in this 
direction for so many hundreds of miles makes it highly 
probable that, beyond it, wheat should be produced, 
largely and profitably. Indeed, this is certainly so ; for 
it so happens that, north of the Minnesota line, and 
within the Canadian territories, are wheat areas possess- 
ing all the advantages of the regions to the south, but, in 
richness, fertility and extent infinitely greater. It would 
be a startling statement to make, as showing the advan- 
tages of the much derided Canadian climate, that even in 
its extreme northern latitudes, the Dominion possesses a 
greater wheat-producing area than does the entire United 
States ; that the soil of this wheat area is richer, will last 
longer, and will produce a higher average of better wheat 
than can be produced anywhere else on the continent, if 
not in the world. Wheat is known to have been grown 
in the vicinity of numerous Hudson's Bay Company's 



8 TfTE GREATER HALF OF TPIE CONTINENT. 

stations for twenty consecutive years, without rotation, 
without fertilization, and annually producing crops aver- 
aging thirty bushels to the acre ! 

If, therefore, the production of this most valuable of 
cereals is the truest test of climatic advantage; if the 
tenderness of the wheat plant in its cultivation is a deli- 
cate standard of conditions, as it really is, it is submitted 
that the prejudice as against the Canadian climate should, 
in the first place, prevail no longer than it prevails against 
the climate in similar latitudes in the United States, 
where the greatest success has been achieved ; and, 
second, that the advantages which the northernmost 
portions of Canada possess over even parallels far to the 
South, should be recoo:nized. These advantasfes are 
found in the often forgotten circumstance that climate is 
much more the result of altitude than it is of latitude. 
According to Humboldt, Europe has a mean elevation of 
six hundred and seventy-one feet, and North America a 
mean elevation of seven hundred and forty-eight feet. It 
is a significant circumstance that the Canadian portion 
of North America has an altitude of only three-hundred 
feet. In the extreme northwest of Canada, the falling ofi* 
from the height of land toward the vast body of water 
known as Hudson's Bay is shown in the fact, that from 
even within the Minnesota line the rivers all begin to run 
towards the north. This low altitude, in its influence 
upon the climate, is second only to the effect of the 
marine currents, which are singularly favorable to Canada. 
These influences are shown in the startlincr fact that the 
mean temperature of Hudson's Bay is three degi^ees 
warmer during the winter than that of Lake Superior ; 



THE GREATER HALF OF THE CONTINENT. 9 

and that it is on the southern and western shores of Lake 
Superior where the most important development of 
American enterprises has taken place, — developments 
that have yielded in lumber, in iron and copper, riches of 
greater magnitude than produced elsewhere in the 
country ; and within parallels of latitude included in this 
lake, an agricultural development more remarkable than 
that elsewhere in the world. The moderating influences 
of vast bodies of fresh water that never freeze over are 
well known. In the great chain of lakes that surround 
Canada, and the vast number of lakes and rivers that 
diversify her surface, there is a fresh water area of one 
hundred and thirty thousand square miles, and as above 
stated, comprising nearly one-half of the fresh water of 
the globe. The effect upon the climate of this vast aggre- 
gation is most beneficial, so that in altitude, and in other 
influences that mitigate the extreme northern location of 
the land, there are found considerations of the greatest 
weight. These influences are shown in the warmer 
climate of the great territory of Alberta, which lies 
directly north of Wyoming, from the latter of which and 
into the former, stock is being regularly driven at the 
beginning of each winter, because of the presence within 
the Canadian border, the year round, of an abundance of 
grass. The experience of last winter showed conclusively 
that while throughout Manitoba and the Canadian north- 
west territories the winter of 1888 was not excessively 
severe, so far south as Iowa and Nebraska the severest 
cold was felt, and as far east as even New York in the 
famous blizzard, which never found its equal even in 
Winnipeg, the most northern of Canadian cities. It is 



10 THE GREATER HALF OF THE CONTINENT. 

true that in. the northwestern portions of Canada the 
winters are long ; that the frost is severe and continuous ; 
but it is equally true that the climate is dry and 
invigorating. 

But aside from this continued severity of the climate 
in the winter, there are compensations and advantages in 
the summer months in the extreme northern region 
of Canada which must not be ignored. For instance, 
what would be thought of a device that should provide, 
underneath the whole surface of a vast and fertile wheat- 
producing area, of a well-spring of moisture, that should 
continuously exude, and feel the delicate tendrils of roots 
that the wheat plant sends down into the earth for sus- 
tenance ? Yet this is precisely what nature has provided 
in the thousands of square miles of wheat areas of the 
Canadian northwest. Ages of long winters, continuous 
and often severe cold, have produced a frost line in the 
earth far down below the surface, which being thawed 
out during the summer months is full of force. What 
seems, at first glance, a barrier to the productive powers 
of nature, is, in this case, found to be contributory in the 
highest degree to man's advantage. For this vast area of 
ice, far enough below the surface to permit the growth of 
plants, holds in suspense and readiness for the land above, 
the needed element of moisture, constant and assured, 
which in other regions comes only in the rains and dews 
that fall from the sky — a supply uncertain and uncon- 
trollable. But there is still another advantage in these 
northern wheat-fields of Canada, incident to the climate ; 
and that is, that while these latitudes imply long winter 
days, they equally imply the longest days in summer. 



THE GREATER HALF OF THE CONTINENT. 11 

Thus, there is an average of two hours per day more of 
sunshine during the period of the growth of wheat in the 
Canadian northwest, than is vouchsafed in any other 
locality where wheat can be produced. Not only is two 
hours of sunshine in each day an inestimatable advantage, 
but the sun is stronger and more forceful at this period, 
and in this region, not only helping rapidly forward the 
ripening process, but the heat is continuously sufficient to 
cause an exudation of the moisture from the ice in the 
ground beneath. So that, in this far north land, despised 
in the minds of many for its cold and sterility, conditions 
unite to make it the most productive, and the most valu- 
able of all the wheat lands upon the continent. It would 
seem as if a conjunction had been formed by the heavens 
above and the earth beneath to illustrate, in the highest 
degree, the productive forces of nature, in regions where 
man least expected this development. It so happens, 
also, that the soil which enjoys these advantages of 
moisture beneath, and long, forceful rays from above, is 
particularly rich and inexhaustible. Lord Dufferin, an 
observant and reliable authority, said that throughout 
his whole journey of weeks through the Canadian north- 
west, he was constantly reminded of the English kitchen 
gardens in the vicinity of London. Cauliflowers grow 
large enough to serve for three meals for an ordinary 
family, while potatoes four and five pounds in weight are 
nothing extraordinary. The average crop of wheat in 
1887, in Manitoba, was thirty bushels to the acre, while 
nowhere else on the continent did it exceed twenty 
bushels to the acre, and in Minnesota and Dakota did not 
average more than fifteen bushels. A mere handful of 



12 THE GREATER HALF OF THE CONTINENT. 

settlers in Manitoba produced in that year, a surplus of 
twelve millions of bushels of wheat, seven millions of 
barley, and two millions of bushels of potatoes — the latter 
crop being a failure so great in the States as to comnand 
throughout the greater portions of the year a rate as high 
as $1 per bushel, while at points of production within 
Manitoba they could be had for one- eighth of that price. 
It is true that early frosts in August of the present year 
have partially injured the crop of 1888, and that there is 
this contingency always present in the northern regions ; 
but early frosts are equally dangerous in Minnesota and 
Dakota, while this year, as far east as Massachusetts, there 
was serious damage done. There is no locality but has its 
disadvantages with its advantages; but taking all the 
circumstances in view, it may be very well claimed for 
these northern wheat-producing regions that they are full 
of the greatest promise, as being in the line of the steady 
movement north of this most valuable product, and that 
they cannot fail to have a most important influence in 
the world's future supply of the staff" of life. 

But it must not be inferred that the climate of 
Canada is represented by the regions to the extreme 
north which have just been referred to. The Dominion, 
from its vast extent, as has been truly said, "possesses all 
the climates of Europe, from the Mediterranean to the 
Arctic Ocean, as might be expected, seeing that it extends 
from the latitude of Rome, in Italy, to that of the North 
Cape, in Norway, and is of almost equal area." The gul^ 
stream, in the Atlantic coast, and the Japanese current in 
the Pacific, are both singularly favorable to Canada. In 
the Province of British Columbia the thermometer in the 



THE GREATER HALF OF THE CONTINENT. 13 

summer months ranges from eighty degrees to ninety 
degrees, while in winter, the cold rarely goes below 
twenty-two degrees. On the Atlantic the climate of 
Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick is in no respect less 
desirable in winter than that of Massachusetts and Maine. 
St. John, the chief city of New Brunswick, is in the lati- 
tude of Milan, Lyons, and Venice, and the whole province 
is within parallels which include Belgium, Holland and 
the German Empire, where populations are most dense. 
Indeed, for more than half of the summer the maritime 
provinces are most delightful resorts, as shown in the 
steady stream of summer tourists that are settling in even 
north of Mount Desert in Maine. In Ontario the climatic 
conditions created by the practical encirclement of the 
great lakes are especially favorable, and such stretches as 
are included in the Niagara Peninsula, and those bordering 
upon Lake Erie, force themselves upon the attention of 
the student of North America as among the most 
favored spots on the whole continent. So far as climate, 
then, is concerned, there is no one thing in all the cata- 
logue of advantages which Canada possesses that is of 
greater value ; for, in its variety, it favors the produc- 
tion of numerous cereals and crops, and, in its forcefulness 
and vigor it stimulates the best efforts of its population. 
Malta Brun said of these regions : "Everything is in 
proper keeping for the developement of the combined 
physical and mental energies of man. There are to be 
found at once the hardihood of character which conquers 
difficulties, the climate which stimulates exertion, and the 
natural advantages which reward enterprise. Nature 
has marked out this country for exalted destinies !" 



14 THE GREATER HALF OF THE CONTINENT. 

The immeasureable content with which the average 
citizen of the United States contemplates the fact that, as 
between the Atlantic and Pacific, there are no stretches of 
territory that do not contribute to his greatness, can 
equally be shared by the Canadian. But the American 
has limitations on the north by a line drawn at the St- 
Lawrence and the Lakes, and along the fortj^-ninth 
parallel, against which his commerce beats as against an 
impenetrable wall, and like a wave rolls back upon itself. 
A night's journey from Boston or New York, and the 
limit of his boasted areas towards the north are reached^ 
two nights and a day, even from Chicago, in the centre of 
his territory, and the ground to the north covered by the 
trade of that great city is exhausted. Not so with the 
Canadian. Not only does his territory stretch two hun- 
dred miles further out into the Atlantic, on the Nova 
Scotia coast, than the average of the United States — not 
only does it then stretch across a vast continent of un- 
told wealth to the Pacific, on the coast of British 
Columbia, but extends as far north asthe Arctic Ocean. 
Take in the stupendous figures included in these measure- 
ments. Adopting the eighty -fifth degree of longitude as 
a centre, Canada stretches west to the one-hundred and 
thirtieth degree, and east to the forty- second degree — 
forty -five degrees on one side and forty-three degrees on 
the other. North and south the Dominion stretches from 
the fifty -first degree of latitude, south to the forty-second 
degree, and north to the frozen sea. George Johnson, the 
accomplished head of the statistical department of the 
Dominion government at Ottawa, whose disposition and 
ability to furnish the fullest information regarding 



THE GREATER HALF OF THE CONTINENT. 15 

Canada are unequalled, makes some comparisons regard- 
ing the size of the Dominion that are very instructive^ 
He says : 

" It is difficult to afford an adequate conception of the vastnesg 
of this country, England Wales and Scotland form together an area 
of 88,000 square miles ; you could cut forty such areas out of 
Canada. New South Wales contains 309,175 square miles, and is 
larger by 162 square miles than France, continental Italy and Sicily. 
Canada would make eleven countries the size of New South Wales. 
There are (in extent), three British Indias in Canada, and still enough 
left over to make a Queensland and a Victoria. The German 
Empire could be carved out of Canada and fifteen more countries of 
the same size. 

In the light of such comparisons, the statement made 
in a previous page, that Canada comprises forty per cent, 
of the area of the entire British Empire, is not so incre- 
dible as at first sight appears. Judged by standards of 
American areas, the comparison was quite as interesting. 
Thus, the province of Ontario, the fairest land of all the 
North American continent, is larger than the six New 
England States, with New York, New Jeresy, Pennsyl- 
vania and Maryland, by twenty-five thousand square 
miles. Ontario, extending over ten degrees of latitude, 
and twenty degrees of longitude, the single province, 
covers an area larger by ten thousand square miles than 
Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Michigan combined; larger 
than Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin by eleven thousand 
square miles. The basin of the Hudson's Bay comprises 
two million square miles, in which are the fertile plains of 
the Saskatchewan Valley, measuring five hundred thous- 
and square miles, and which, according to Lord Selkirk, 
are capable alone of supporting thirty millions of people. 



16 THE GREATER HALF OF THE CONTINENT. 

That he was right in this contention is proved by the indi- 
cations of the enormous productive forces of this region 
since developed ; and that a European area, similarly 
situated east of the tenth degree of longitude, compre- 
hends very nearly the whole of England and Ireland, the 
northeast corner of France, the whole of Belgium and 
Holland, and the greater part of the valley of the Rhine. 
The vast expanse of Canada may be judged by the 
extent of her rivers and bays. The St. John, in New 
Brunswick, the largest river on the Atlantic coast south 
of the St. Lawrence, is five hundred miles in length, and 
is navigable for two hundred and thirty miles. The St. 
Lawrence, one of the noblest of the great rivers in the 
world, has a length of seven hundred and fifty miles, en- 
tirely navigable. The Ottawa, which is a mere affluent 
of the St. Lawrence, joining it six hundred miles from its 
mouth, is in itself five hundred and fifty miles long. The 
chain of great lakes is familiar to all who look at the 
map, but not so, to the north, in an almost unknown 
land, are the lakes Shebandowam, and Rainy lake and 
river, a magnificent body of water, three hundred miles 
broad and two hundred miles long. The Lake of the 
Woods, too, is almost unknown outside of Canada, yet is 
a vast stretch of water of almost marvellous beauty, espe- 
cially its westernmost portion, of 80 miles, consisting of 
land-locked channels — a lacustrine paradise. Then comes 
the Winnipeg River, of which Lord Dufferin said : 
" Whose existence in the heart and centre of the conti- 
nent is itself one of nature's most delightful miracles, so 
beautiful and varied are its rocky banks, its tufted 
islands ; so broad, so deep, so fervid is the volume of its 



THE GREATER HALF OF THE CONTINENT. 17 

waters, the extent of their lake-like expansion, and the 
tremendous power of its rapids." Here empties the great 
Ked Kiver of the North, starting from the northern por- 
tions of Minnesota, and the equally great Assiniboine, one 
five hundred miles and the other four hundred and eighty 
miles in length. Far beyond these is the Lake Winnipeg, 
a fresh water sea 300 miles long, from the northwest 
angle of which starts the Saskatchewan. The entrance 
to this noble river has been called " the Gateway of 
the Northwest," for here is a navigable stream, 1,500 
miles in length, flowing nearly due west and east, 
between alluvial banks of the richest soil. Reaching the 
Rocky Mountains by this stream, beyond this range are 
the Athabasca and the Mackenzie rivers, the navigation 
of the latter alone exceeding 2,500 miles, while the Frazer 
River and the Thompson River to Vancouver are streams 
of great magnitude. This enumeration of principal 
streams will give some faint idea of the vast areas of 
land through which they flow. But no better idea of 
magnitude can be formed of the extent of Canada than 
by the contemplation of the Hudson's Bay. This bay 
would seem like a projection of Providence for the good 
of mankind, by which is introduced into the heart of the 
continent an ocean in itself, mid- way between the great 
Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Fancy a bay so long as to 
extend from New York to Chicago, so wide as to extend 
from Washington to the lakes, projected like a huge 
tongue of sea into the land. What would remain of the 
fairest part of the United States ? Yet this is the pro- 
portion of the Hudson's Bay, say 1,000 miles long and 600 
miles wide, running from the north into the heart of 



18 THE GREATER HALF OF THE CONTINENT. 

Canada, carrying with it enormous riches in sea wealth 
for the supply of fish food so greatly benefiting, if per- 
mitted, the prairie States to the south. 

Having almost exhausted the space allotted, by a de- 
scription of the climate and of extent of Canada, the 
reader must be carried rapidly forward to a consideration 
of the marvellous resources which this northern half of 
the continent contains. Incidentally, in describing the 
climate of the northwestern portions of Canada, allusion 
has been made to the agricultural possibilities of that 
region. There are comparatively few portions of Canada, 
however, but possess great possibilities in this direction. 
The Province of Ontario, which will be recalled as cover- 
ing so vast an area, is peculiarly rich in this respect. 
The excellent statistician of the Ontario Government, 
Mr. Archibald Blue, at Toronto, says of his native 
province : 

" But Ontario has something more to boast of than broad ex- 
panse. It has a fertile soil, an invigorating climate, vast forests of 
merchantable timber, treasures of mineral wealth, and water power 
of limitless capacity. It has extensive areas which grow a better 
sample and a larger yield of the staple cereals than any other 
portion of the continent ; and it has more extensive areas not yet 
brought under cultivation which may be converted into grazing 
fields of unsurpassed richness, suitable for the production of the 
best qualities of butter and cheese." 

In a report on the trade between the United States 
and the British Possessions in North America, made by 
J. B. Larned, of the United States Treasury Department, 
in 1871, it was observed that 

" Ontario possesses a fertility with which no part of New Eng- 
land can at all compare, and that particular section of it around 



THE GREATER HALF OF THE CONTINENT. 19 

which the circle of the Great Lakes is swept forces itself upon the 
notice of the student of the American map as one of the most 
favored spots of the whole Continent, where population ought to 
breed with almost Belgian fecundity." 

Another American, whose worthy eminence none will 
dispute, has also described Ontario. The Hon. David A. 
Wells, in the stately paojes of the North American 
Eevietu of many years ago, wrote as follows : 

" North of Lakes Erie and Ontario and the River St. Lawrence, 
east of Lake Huron, south of the forty-fifth parallel, and included 
mainly within the Dominion Province of Ontario, there is as fair a 
country as exists on the North American continent, nearly as large 
in area as New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio combined, and equal 
if not superior to those States as a whole in its agricultural capa- 
city. It is the natural habitat on this continent of the combing- 
wool sheep, without a full, cheap, and reliable supply of the wool 
of which species the great worsted manufacturing industries of the 
country cannot prosper, or, we should rather say, exist. It is the 
land where grows the finest barley, which the brewing interests of 
the United States must have if it ever expects to rival Great Britain 
in its present annual export of over eleven million dollars worth of 
malt products. It raises and grazes the finest of cattle, with quali- 
ties especially desirable to make good the deterioration of stock in 
other sections ; and its climatic conditions, created by an almost 
encirclement of the great lakes, especially fit it to grow men. Such 
a country is one of the greatest gifts of Providence to the human 
race, better than bonanzas of silver, or rivers whose sands contain 
gold." 

It is unnecessary to go into detail as to the advantages 
which the provinces of Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, 
Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island claim, because 
space will not permit, except to say that no country in 
the world possesses a more favorable variety of climate, 
better soil, a more thrifty or a more industrious people 



20 THE GREATER HALF OF THE CONTINENT. 

than these provinces, many of them possessing great 
geographical advantages. This is especially the case v/ith 
Nova Scotia. This province projects out from the main- 
land into the Atlantic Ocean like an immense* wharf, 
being almost surrounded by tidal waters, no portion of 
the interior being at a greater distance than thirty miles 
from the coast. All of her coasts are indented and pro- 
vided with fine harbors, accessible at all seasons of the 
year. Its geographical position causes a variation of the 
climate of the country of great advantage, and as a 
source of supply in fruit, oats, potatoes, and numerous 
other agricultural products, should be of the greatest 
value to the densely populated manufacturing centres of 
New England. 

But, great as may be the agricultural possibilities of 
the Dominion of Canada, and the wealth in her vast 
wheat-producing areas that these may yield at the bid- 
ding of man, it is in the natural resources of the country 
that a still greater promise is found. In the matter of 
the fisheries alone, Canada stands unrivalled. Very few 
realize the vast stretches of coast line along which Canada 
controls the greatest fisheries in the world. Bounded as 
the Dominion is by three oceans, it has beside its numer- 
ous inland seas over five thousand five hundred miles of 
seacoast, washed by waters abounding in the most valu- 
able fishes of all kinds. The older provinces of the con- 
federation have two thousand five hundred miles of sea- 
coast and inland seas, while the seacoast of British 
Columbia alone is over three thousand miles in extent ! 
It is impossible to take these figures in and all that they 
imply without realizing at once the enormous magnitude 



THE GREATER 'half OF THE CONTINENT. 21 

of this interest. But it is not alone in the matter of ex- 
tent of seacoasb line that Canada has a surplus in fish 
w-ealth ; but, in the extreme northern location which she 
occupies she possesses an advantage which is of immense 
value, and this is that the fish are not only better and 
firmer in northern climates, but that the supply of fish 
food, owing to the extreme northern location, is inex- 
haustible. As has been truly said by Mr. Harvey, " the 
Arctic currents which wash the coast of Labrador, New- 
foundland, and Canada, chilling the atmosphere and 
bearing on its bosom huge ice argosies, is the source of 
the vast fish wealth which has been drawn on for ages, 
and which promises to continue for ages to come." 
Wanting this cold river of the ocean, the fish which now 
crowd the northern seas would be entirely absent. Pro- 
fessor Hind says : " The Arctic seas and the great rivers 
which they send forth swarm with minute forms of life, 
constituting in many places a living mass, a vast ocean of 
living slime. The all-pervading life which exists here 
afibrds the true solution of the problem which has so 
often presented itself to those investigating deep-sea 
fisheries, the source of food which gives sustenance to the 
countless millions of fish." The harvest of the sea has 
not yet been gleaned to the same extent as the harvest of 
the land ; but this fact may be taken for granted, that of 
all the countries in the world, and of all the riches of 
these countries, nothing can be made more useful, in a 
higher form, toward sustaining life, or to a greater extent, 
than the vast wealth of the fisheries of Canada. They 
are practically inexhaustible, because the cold current of 
the north brings with it the food on which these fish 



22 THE GREATER HALF OF TfiE CONTINENT. 

thrive, and the supply is one that can never fail. The 
seacoasts of the Atlantic and the St. Lawrence on the 
east, the long stretches of the Hudson's Bay coast in the 
centre, and the three thousand miles of coast line of 
British Columbia on the west, are in themselves a great 
possession, while the fresh water fish of the great lakes 
of the northwest, especially in the supply of the prairie 
States, should be relatively as great a contribution to the 
sustentation of human life as are the supplies of cattle 
upon the plains. 

In timber, Canada possesses a wealth of very great im- 
portance to the United States. When the wide stretches 
of treelees prairies which this country contains are 
recalled, and the rapidly disappearing forests within the 
United States, it is with a sense of satisfaction that one 
turns to the northern half of the continent, containing as 
it does the finest forests and the greatest supply of this 
most essential element of human protection and comfort. 
Within the catalogue of the woods of Canada, there are 
sixty-five species of forest trees, including nineteen of the 
pine family, while the space covered by timber within the 
Dominion is something enormous. Excepting the great 
triangular prairie east of the Rocky Mountains, lying 
between the United States boundary and a line drawn 
from the Red River to the upper Peace River, the whole 
of Canada, up to the northern limit of the growth of trees, 
presents one vast forest area, except where it has been 
cleared by the hand of man. It is needless to further 
dilate upon the enormous value which this area is to the 
country to the south. It is sufficient to say that the source 
of supply for the next hundred years for the progress of 



THE GREATER HALF OF THE CONTINENT. 23 

the United States, lies largely within the Dominion ; and 
that no estimate of wealth, on the one hand, or of advan- 
tage and possible convenience on the other, is possible, so 
far as the United States is concerned. Fully one-half of 
the lumber consumed in many Western States is now 
derived from the Canadian forests, climbing as it does 
over a wall in the shape of a duty of twenty per cent. 
The protection thus afforded practically operates as a 
stimulant for the destruction of American forests. The 
hard and white woods in Ontario, almost within sight of 
the border, are of inestimable value in the manufacture of 
furniture; and there are enormous supplies of the beauti- 
ful bird's-eye maple, black birch, oak, basswood, black 
ash, and other highly ornamental woods, which, in this 
country, are of great value for the highest grade of furni- 
ture and interior decoration. 

Perhaps of all the surprises which the average 
American encounters in discussing the wealth of Canada, 
nothing will startle him to a greater degree than this 
statement : — That no country in the world possesses so 
much iron as Canada, in no land is it so easily mined, and 
nowhere is it quite so accessible to manufacturing centres. 
This is a statement which no doubt will challenge contra- 
diction, and it is to be regretted that the space is too 
small to describe at length the location and precise advan- 
tage which the iron supply of this Greater Half of the 
Continent would afford to the United States. Take the 
instance at'New Glasgow, in Nova Scotia, where, within 
a radius of six miles, there are found deposits of iron ore 
of the highest quality, equal to that of any other portion 
of the world, side by side with limestone, chemically pure, 



24 THE GREATER HALF OF THE CONTINENT. 

in the immediate presence of coke in abundant quantities, 
from seams thirty feet thick, lying directly on a railway 
and within six miles of the Atlantic Ocean ! Could there 
by any possibility be a combination more fortuitous than 
this ? Throughout Novia Scotia there are deposits of ore 
of the greatest possible value; but, in Quebec, and 
especially in Ontario, the value of the iron deposits is 
something enormous. Near the city of Ottawa there is a 
hill of iron called the Haycock mine, which would yield 
an output of one hundred tons per day of ore for one hun- 
dred and fifty years without being exhausted. On the 
line of the Ottawa, on the St. Lawrence, in the Eastern 
townships, on the Kingston and Pembroke Railway, on 
the Central Ontario Railway, through Lake Nipissing, in 
Lake Winnipeg on Big Island, and on Vancouver's Island, 
there are enormous deposits of ore, all possessing this 
singular advantage, of almost a freedom from phosphorus. 
It has been truly said that '* what the devil is to religion, 
that phosphorus is to iron." The peculir advantage of the 
Canadian ore in this respect is sufficiently demonstrated 
by the fact that, in the face of a dut}^ of seventy-five 
cents per ton, this iron is being steadily introduced, for 
the purpose of mixing with other ores, at Joilet, 111., at 
Pittsburg, Pa., and at other points. A market such as the 
United States would afford, if it were free, and the intro- 
duction of enterprise and capital, would create for these 
deposits the same development and the same value that 
have followed the activity in the Vermillion, Menominee 
and Gogebic regions. These latter deposits are almost 
within sight of Canada, and are but the edge of the great 
Laurentian range or belt of minerals, which, starting on 



THE GREATER HALF OF THE CONTINENT. 25 

the Labrador coast, covers the vast area of Canada, 
paralleling the St. Lawrence and the great lakes, till they 
find an ending in the Algoma district — a locality that has 
been aptly described a great treasure house of minerals, 
waiting only the touch of American enterprise, and stimu- 
lated by an American market, to yield results far exceed- 
ing those of any mineral development on the continent. 

Coincident with the presence of these great deposits of 
iron ore, are discoveries of even greater importance in 
copper and nickel, and in other metals hitherto nameless 
but of surpassing value. The copper development at 
Bruce mines, and especially and recently at Sudbury 
Junction, on the north shore of Lake Superior, is likely 
to be even more profitable than that of the famous 
Calumet and Hecla mines on the south shore of the same 
lake, whose payment of thirty millions of dividends on a 
capitalization of two and a half millions of dollars, is a 
realization beyond the dreams of avarice. Already Ohio 
capitalists have invested over a million of dollars on the 
line of the Canadian Pacific Railway in these deposits. 
The development of nickel, of which there are only two 
or three known deposits in the world, is of great signifi- 
cance ; while in gold and in silver, especially the latter, 
very excellent success has rewarded the efforts of the 
prospectors. Perhaps the most marvellous yield of silver 
that the world has ever seen was at Silver Islet, within 
the Canadian border, on the Lake Superior shore, where, 
for a space of two or three years, an output was realized 
that enriched the owners with a rapidity equalled only 
by dreams in the " Arabian Nights," In British Colum- 
bia immense quantities of gold are known to exist, and 



26 THE GREATER HALF OF THE CONTINENT. 

the fact that over fifty million dollars worth has been 
mined from only a dozen localities, hardly yet developed, 
is full of the deepest significance, as indicating what yet 
remains in that distant region to reward the adventurous 
effort of the denizens of this continent. 

But it is not alone in these prominent metals that 
Canada is rich in natural resources. In phosphates, she 
possesses enormous quantities of the purest character. 
No country in the world needs fertilizers more than lal'ge 
portions of the United States, and no country is better 
able to supply them than Canada. Analysis shows that 
Canadian phosphates contain phosphoric acid up to forty- 
seven and forty -nine per cent., equivalent to eighty to 
eighty-eight per cent, of phosphate of lime. No contri- 
bution to the wealth of the continent is of greater value 
than the development of the Canadian phosphates. In 
asbestos, in mica, antimony, arsenic, pirites, oxides of 
iron, marble, graphites, plumbago, gypsum, white quartz 
for potter s use, siliceous sand-stones for glass, emery and 
numerous other products, Canada possesses enormous 
quantities awaiting the touch of man. In the matter of 
lead, it is found in almost every province, especially in 
British Columbia, the lead ore there containing as much 
as fifteen and a half ounces of silver to the ton. The de- 
posits of salt are the largest and the purest on the conti- 
nent. Again, another surprise awaits the observer in 
that in the article of coal. Canada possesses the only 
sources of supply in the Atlantic and on the Pacitic, and 
that between these two there are stretches of coal deposits 
amounting to ninety-seven thousand square miles ! The 
magnitude of the interests involved in this question of 



THE GREATER HALF OF THE CONTINENT. 27 

the supply of coal, its contiguity and economy of 
handling, are of vast importance to the United States. It 
is significant testimony to the important position which 
Canada holds on the question of coal supply, when it is 
recalled that away down on the Atlantic, the manufac- 
turing coal of Nova Scotia should without doubt supply 
the manufacturing centres of New England, at a minimum 
of cost; while midway across the continent, in wide 
stretches of territory of the lowest temperature, supplies 
should be drawn from the sources which Providence has 
placed within the Canadian border, and, still further, 
that, on the distant shores of the Pacific, San Francisco 
and contiguous cities should at this time be drawing their 
supply of artificial heat from the mines of British Colum- 
bia, and paying a tax to the overburdened treasury of the 
United States of seventy-five cents a ton ! 

And now, having most inadequately set forth some of 
the plainly marked features of the greater half of the 
North American Continent, it remains to be asked — 
What destiny awaits it all ? It is true that the state- 
ments made herein are nearly all in the nature of sur- 
prises, but they take on this form mostly because of the 
hitherto good-natured indifference of the people of the 
United States in all that relates to Canada. But a 
change in this respect impends. The Canadian question 
forces itself upon the public mind of the United States 
for adjustment. Aside from serious complications, in- 
volving the relations with a European power, whose navy 
is the only menace this country need fear, the circum- 
stances of the hour make it imperative that at last a 
policy must be decided upon, continental in its character, 



28 THE GREATER HALF OF THE CONTINENT. 

and continental in its consequences. The strange sense 
of limitation that thus early in the history of the United 
States is felt, when there is no more new territory to 
occupy ; the necessity that exists for the widest field for 
supply of wants that brook no refusal, as in lumber, non- 
phosphorus iron ores, coal, fresh water fish in the North- 
west, phosphates, barley, and other products, either 
peculiar to Canada or geographically essential to local 
progress and local convenience ; the serious unsettled 
railway transportation problem, involving the possible 
discontinuance of the Inter-state Commerce laws, or the 
destruction of profit to the American railway systems 
running east and west ; the future destination of immi- 
gration, so as not to completely politically extinguish the 
American ; the worn-out but eminently dangerous fishery 
dispute ; the canal discrimination ; a free St. Lawrence to 
supplement a free Mississippi, — all these are questions too 
important to remain in chaos. But, in addition to all 
these, is the necessity that arises out of the recent triumph 
of the Republican party, that a policy should actuate its 
leaders, commensurate with its greatness ; that its return 
to power should be signalized by achievements that will 
make its claim to continued confidence less insecure than 
it has hitherto been. The bitter lesson of defeat four 
yoars ago, and of narrowed majorities in significant 
localities since, will not be unheeded, especially if, in 
manufacturing centres, it can be made to appear that by 
opening up a market, continental in extent, an outlet is 
afforded for the over-production which the stimulant of 
protection has created. If this market can be secured at 
the expense of that hated rival, the British manufacturer, 



THE GREATER HALF OF THE CONTINENT. 29 

SO much the better for the purpose in view ; for the 
frantic bid for the anti-British vote will unfortunately- 
still be necessary to political party existence. Still 
another motive may be found for vast expenditures, 
justified by the requirement of territory, in order to beget 
a reduction of the surplus without the disturbance of the 
equilibrium of taxation. All this catalogue of essentials 
in the present political situation revolve around a policy 
which may have a Continental Unity for its aim, and 
which, narrowed down to practical politics, involves an 
attempt on the part of the United States to shape the 
future destiny of Canada. The considerations that sur- 
round this whole question are of a character most com- 
prehensive, and they will, doubtless, be discussed in this 
country with frankness and liberality. It is submitted, 
however, that the almost universal conclusion reached in 
the public mind, that Canada should form a part of the 
Union, should be revised. Usually there are two parties 
to a bargain ; in this case the parties number three, — the 
United States, Canada, and Great Britain. Whether the 
latter is quite ready for an extension over the entire con- 
tinent, comprising 40 per cent, of her empire, of the prin- 
ciples of the Declaration of Independence which in former 
years she struggled so vainly to defeat, may well be 
doubted. Whether the people of Canada themselves, 
treated by the mother country with all the affectionate 
consideration born of experience with her elder wayward 
daughter, are ready to sever the slender ties that bind 
them to British connection, even for material advantages, 
is by no means certain. Indeed, to many it would appear 
that no revolution in sentiment could possibly be greater 



LXDKHKT Ul- ^UNUKb-bb 



80 



THE GREATER HALF OF THE C< 




017 299 

than the change which would be necessary to bring about 
a willingness on the part of the Canadians to forfeit their 
loyalty, and the many advantages which in their form of 
government they possess. A political union, to those 
best informed, seems most difficult and distant. To 
these, however, a commercial union which, so far as trade 
and commerce is concerned, would be just as advan- 
tageous, is among the early attainable possibilities. 



821 5<P 



ErASTUS WlMAN. 



New York, December, 1888. 



\ 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




